Process of making articles from films of thermoplastic material

ABSTRACT

A process is disclosed for making articles of ornamental or unusual appearances by cutting and heating operations performed on a plurality of layers of thermoplastic film material which has been stretched, preferably in two directions at right angles to each other, during manufacture, so as to fuse the layers of material together at least at their edges and in most cases cause contraction of the films in directions parallel to their faces and expansion in a direction perpendicular thereto. A particularly effective procedure is to form an elongated composite roll or bundle of the film material or rods of thermoplastic material or both and to then slice the resulting structure transversely into wafers. These wafers may be heated differentially to cause them to deform into unusual shapes. A number of different types of articles thus made are also shown.

[4 1 Apr. 4, 1972 Yoshimura L e S S O R g n u 0 Y 278 666 999 ll W82 1871 6 9 3 726 34 0 3 4 333 C I T S A L P O M R E H T F O S M L I F M O RF L A m E T A M K r O I n 6 V n I 2 7 .l.

[54] PROCESS OF MAKING ARTICLES Richard L. Ropiequet; Margaret J. Mon-Primary Examiner-Benjamin A. Borchelt tag, both of Portland, Oreg.Assistant Examiner-Daniel A. Bent A Attorney-Buckhorn, Blore, Klarquistand Sparkman ssrgnee:

Alta Industries, Incorporated, Portland, Oreg.

lastic material or both and to then slice the resulting structuretransversely into wafers. These wafers may be 0 unusual types ofarticles thus made are mop UNITED STATES PATENTS heated differentiallyto cause them to deform int shapes. A number of different also shown.

14 Claims, 46 Drawing Figures .....156/251 Wohlfahrt et Mental April 4,1972 3 Sheets-Sheet l FlGi FIG. 3

RICHARD l ROPIESUET MARGARET J. MO TAG INVENTOR BUCKHORN, BLORE,KLARQUIST 8- SPARKMAN ATTORNEYS FIG. l5

Patented April 4, 1972 3,654,017

3 SheetsSheet 2 FIG. l9

FIG. 22

I30 I50 s ,145 v v v v v v 6211 I221 144 -|44 141 |38a [36 12K RICHARDL. ROPIEQUET [46a mm MARGARET J. MONT AG 52 p52 INVENTORS 4 BY FIG. 33FIG. 34 Bucxnom, BLORE, KLARQUIST & SPARKMAN 148 150:: ATTORNEYSPatented April 4, 1972 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 40

RICHARD L., ROPIEQUET MARGARET J. MONTAG IN'VENTORS.

BUG/(HORN, BLORE, KLAROU/ST 8 SPAR/(MAN ATTORNEYS PROCESS OF MAKINGARTICLES FROM FILMS OF THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL This application is acontinuation in part of my copending application Ser. No. 702,426 filedFeb. I, 1968.

FIELD OF INVENTION The invention relates to a process of making articlesfrom films of thermoplastic material which have been stretched duringmanufacture while the films are cooling from a heated plastic condition.Such films are referred to in the art as being made of biaxiallyoriented thermoplastic material if the stretching is substantially equalin two axes at right angles to each other, or of monaxially orientedthermoplastic material if the stretching has been primarily in one axis.The stretching and cooling leaves locked in stresses in the films andupon again heating the films these stresses will be relieved byshrinking along the axes of original stretching with a correspondingincrease in thickness unless prevented by mechanical restraints.

It is difficult to make a film which is either completely biaxially ormonaxially oriented so that available stretched films generally fallbetween these two extremes and will shrink in both length and width, butnot equally, while increasing in thickness. In the present applicationthe term stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic film" has beenemployed to mean stretched thermoplastic films having an orientationbetween these two extremes, including those which approach either ofsuch extremes, which films will shrink as described above when subjectedto heating. Also the term stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplasticmaterial" will be employed to means both the material of the films justdiscussed and that of rods of thermoplastic material which have beenlongitudinally stretched while cooling from a heated plastic condition.When again heated to a plastic condition,such rods or short sectionsthereof will shrink in a longitudinal direction and expand in atransverse or radial direction unless prevented by mechanicalrestraints.

Articles of various shapes can be made by arranging a number of layersof the stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic film with theirfaces in contact with each other and pressed together to expel air andthen cutting through the layers with a knife or die which has beenheated to a temperature which will fuse the cut edges of the layerstogether. Alternatively the edges of layers cut in any other manner canbe fused together by rapidly applying heat to such edges, for example,in an oven or heating chamber while the various layers are pressedtogether. The shrinking action of the layers which results in anincrease in thickness of the heated edges, assists in causing such edgesto fuse together in either of the cutting and heating operationsdiscussed above.

Articles of greater structural strength can be made by fusing the layerstogether substantially throughout their contacting surfaces, forexample, by holding the layers together in any suitable manner whichrestricts expansion of the layers in a direction perpendicular to suchlayers and relatively slowly applying heat until such fusion isaccomplished. This fusing of the layers together can be done before orafter the cutting operations referred to above.

Elongated rolls or bundles of folded layers can also be formed and cuttransverse to the axis of the rolls or bundles into articles in the formof wafers by employing a plurality of spaced heated wires. These rollsor bundles will ordinarily. have an outer wrapping made of a pluralityof layers of the stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic film..These rolls or bundles will also usually have longitudinally extendingsmaller rolls or bundles of the film material in their interior or mayhave similarly longitudinally extending stretch oriented heat shrinkablerods of thermoplastic material as well as rods of thermoplastic materialin which the material of the rods has not been stretch oriented or onlyslightly stretch oriented. The elongated rolls or bundles aresufficiently tightly rolled or compacted that wafers having the adjacentcut edges of the various components fused together by the heated wireswill be self sustaining.

The articles made as above described can be further formed intoornamental or unusual shapes by heating various shaped articles forvarious length of time at various temperatures under conditionspermitting the contraction and expansion discussed above. Such unusualshapes result from the fact that the plastic materials of the layers orof the rods when employed are, in general, good insulators so that theheat penetrates slowly from the outside to the internal parts. There isthus a thermal gradient during at least the initial portions of theheating operation which causes the stresses in the layers to be relievedand the article to change shape progressively from i the surfaces of theobject receiving the heat toward the portions of the article spaced fromsuch surfaces. If the heat is applied differentially to the varioussurfaces of the article then,

heat shrinkable thermoplastic material or various thermoplastic rods maybe of various colors so that further ornamental or unusual effects canbe obtained.

The invention is therefore concerned with providing a novel process bywhich articles of ornamental or unusual shapes as well as having variouscolor combinations may be readily produced from stretch oriented heatshrinkable thermoplastic material and is also concerned with providingsuch objects as articles of manufacture.

The process of the present invention and the articles produced therebywill be described :in greater detail in conjunction with the attacheddrawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing apparatus for pressing together aplurality of layers of stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplasticfilm;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing apparatus for cutting articlesfrom a plurality of such layers;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an article cut by the apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the article of FIG. 3 taken along the line4-4;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatical view of the article of FIGS. 3 and 4 floatedon a heated liquid to cause or to assume a dished or cupped form;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of an article similar to that of FIGS. 3and 4 but made of a greater number of layers and positioned on a heatedplate;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the article of FIG. 6 upon removal from theheated plate of such figure;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the article of FIG. 7 taken along the line88;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of an article similar to that of FIG. 7 butmade up of a much greater number of layers with a wire attached forsuspending in an oven;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the article of FIG. 1 1;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation of t a article of FIGS. 9 and 10 afterhaving been heated;

FIG. 12 is a plan view of another article similar to that shown in FIGS.9 and 10;

FIG. 13 is a side elevation of the article of F IG. 12 after having beenheated;

FIG. 14 is a side elevation of another article cut from a plurality oflayers of the film and having a suspending wire attached;

FIG. 15 is a plan view of the article of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a side elevation of the article of FIGS. 14 and 15 afterhaving been heated by heat applied substantially uniformly from alldirections;

FIG. 17 is the view similar to FIG. 14 showing the article after it hasbeen heated by heat applied from one side thereof;

FIG. 18 is a side elevation of the article of FIG. 17 looking toward theleft in FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a side elevation of another type of cut article which hasbeen placed upon a heated mandrel;

FIG. 20 is an end elevation of the article only of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a view similar to FIG. 19 showing the article wrapped aroundthe mandrel as a result of a heating operatron;

FIG. 22 is an end elevation of layers of film wrapped around a mandrel;

FIG. 23 is a plan view of the assembly of FIG. 22 after heating andcutting of the material wrapped around the anvil into open rings such asbracelets;

FIG. 24 is a top elevation of a ring of material cut from a plurality oflayers of film after such layers have been fused together;

FIG. 25 is a sectional view of the ring of FIG. 24 taken on the line25-25;

FIG. 26 is a view similar to FIG. 25 after heating to form the ring ofFIGS. 24 and 25 into a bracelet or the like;

FIG. 27 is an end view of a roll containing various bundles of the filmmaterial;

FIG. 28 is a side elevation of the roll of FIG. 27 after heating andalso showing several wafers cut from the roll;

FIG. 29 is a top plan view of an enlarged scale of the article resultingfrom heating one of the wafers of FIG. 28 in an oven;

FIG. 30 is a side elevation on a reduced scale of the article of FIG.29;

FIG. 31 is a front elevation of the article of FIG. 29;

FIG. 32 is an end view of a roll similar to the roll shown in FIG. 27but having a different internal structure;

FIG. 33 is a side elevation of the article produced by cutting a waferfrom the roll of FIG. 32 and heating the wafer;

FIG. 34 is a side elevation showing the opposite side of the article ofFIG. 33;

FIG. 35 is an end view on a slightly enlarged scale of the article ofFIGS. 33 and 34;

FIG. 36 is a view similar to FIG. 27 of another type of roll or bundlecontaining rods of stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplasticmaterial as well as film of such material;

FIG. 37 is a front view of the article produced by applying heat to onesurface of a wafer cut from the roll or bundle of FIG. 36;

FIG. 38 is a side view of the article of FIG. 37;

FIG. 39 diagrammatically illustrates on a smaller scale a device forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of wafers from an elongated bundle orroll made of stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic material;

FIG. 40 is a bottom view of the device of FIG. 39;

FIG. 41 is a plan view of an intermediate article or blank made of aplurality of layers of the stretch oriented heat shrinkablethermoplastic film cut into the shape of a flower;

FIG. 42 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 4242 of FIG. 41;

FIG. 43 is a plan view of the intermediate article of FIGS. 41 and 42after being heated by radiant heat directed radially toward and upwardlywith respect to the article of F IG. 41;

FIG. 44 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 44-44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 45 is a plan view of another article made by cutting a blanksimilar to that of FIGS. 41 and 42 but having petal portions of anothershape and heating by radiant heat directed downwardly against the uppersurface of the blank; and

FIG. 46 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 4646 of FIG. 45.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a stack 50 made up of aplurality of layers of the stretched oriented heat shrinkablethermoplastic material discussed above positioned between a pair ofplates 52. Plates 52 may be made of any suitable material such asaluminum and may be forced toward each other by a press or clamp (notshown) for the purpose of expelling air from between the layers of thestack 50 and causing superficial adherence between such layers.Alternatively the plates 52 may be clamped together in any suitablemanner and the assembly including the stack 50 placed in an oven andsubjected to a heating operation. If such heating operation is conductedat a relatively low temperature for a substantial period of time, thetemperature being just sufiicient to cause fusion of the surfaces of thelayers 50 in contact with each other, the result is a solid body orboard of the thermoplastic material in which the various layers arefused together throughout their surface areas. Such a fused article hassubstantial mechanical strength. On the other hand, if the heating israpid as a result of the applications of heat at a relatively hightemperature, for a short period of time, only the exposed edges of thelayers of the stack 50 will be fused so that such layers will be adheredto each other only at their edges. In either case the layers arerestrained from increasing materially in thickness and shrinking of thelayers is therefor also restrained.

FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates a device for cutting a stack of thelayers of film, such as the stack 50 of FIG. 1. This device includes abase member 54 for supporting the stack 50 and a reciprocable cuttingdie member including a cutting ele-' ment 56 secured to a backing plate58 of heat insulating material in turn attached to a press plunger 60.It will be understood that the cutting element 56 may extend entirelyaround the die in a pattern which corresponds to the desired shape ofthe article cut from the stack 50. An electric heating element 62 may bepositioned in contact with the cutting element 56 so that such elementmay be heated to a temperature which will fuse the edges of the articlecut from the stack 50 together. A sponge 64 of heat resistant resilientmaterial, for example, sponge silicon rubber, may be employed to ejectthe cut out article from the die.

FIG. 3 illustrates one specific type of article 66 which may be cut fromthe stack 50 by a die such as shown in FIG. 2. For limited production,it is also possible to cut such article from the stack by use of aheated knife, such as a knife element attached to a soldering ironelement or such cutting can also be perfonned by employing a heated wireas a saw blade. The various layers of the stack 50 have sufficientsuperficial adherence that articles such as shown in FIGS. 3 can be cuttherefrom with a heated knife while the layers of the stack are heldpressed together by the fingers of one hand of the operator and theknife is manipulated by the other hand. 7

The article 66 of FIG. 3 may be relatively thin as illustrated by thecross section shown in FIG. 4, i.e., may be made of relatively fewlayers of the film, and such article may be assumed to have only itsedges fused together. In the flat forms illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4,such an article may have various ornamental or unusual shapes anddifferent layers or groups of layers of the film may be of difierentcolors to provide an attractive appearance. Instead of being fusedtogether at their edges only, the various layers of the article of FIGS.3 and 4 may be fused together throughout their surface areas by clampingthem between plates, such as the plates 52 of FIG. 1, and heating in themanner described above, and this may be done either before or after thearticles are cut out from the stack 50.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, any of the types of articles described abovewith respect to FIGS. 3 and 4, i.e., articles having the edges only ofthe layers fused together or articles in which the layers are fusedtogether throughout the surface areas, may be dropped on the surface ofa heated liquid 68 shown diagrammatically in such figure, on which thearticle floats. The liquid 68 is at a temperature which will causeshrinking of the layers adjacent the lower surface of the article thusplaced on the heated liquid. The article will rapidly be shaped orcupped into the form shown by the resulting article 70 of FIG. 5. Thusthe articles 70 of FIG. 5 will still have the outline of the article 66of FIG. 3 but the lobes of the article of FIGS. 3 and 4 will be bowedinto the form of an attractive flower. The heating of the layers incontact with the liquid in FIG. 5 will cause such layers to adhere toadjacent layers and this action may take place between several or all ofthe layers of the article to increase its structural strength. If,however, the various layers of the article have been previously fusedtogether as described above, the bowing will still take place.

Another article 72 is shown in FIG. 6 upon a heated plate, showndiagrammatically at 74. The articles 72 may have any suitable shape and,for example, may be similar to that of FIG. 3 except that it is shown asbeing substantially thicker, i.e., made up of a greater number of layersand being somewhat larger in size. The temperature of plate 74 can beadjusted so that the layers nearest the plate shrink and this shrinkingdecreases progressively for layers of the film spaced further from theplate so as to produce an article 76 of the shape shown in FIGS. 7 and8. All of the edges of such article have rounded edge and an outersurface 78 having the same shape as the original cut out article 72 butreduced in size while the opposite face 80 retains substantially theshape and size of the original cut out article.

Another cut out article 82 which is very much thicker than the article72 of FIG. 6 is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Such an article may have anydesired shape but, for example, may have substantially the same shape asthe article of FIG. 3 as is shown in FIG. 10. The article 82 of FIGS. 9and may be cut from a stack of layers of film with a heated wire or dieso as to have its edges only fused together or may have its layers offilm fused together throughout the article. This article is shown ashaving a suspending wire 84 attached to one of its faces centrallythereof to enable such article to be freely suspended in a heatedatmosphere, such as in an oven. If the temperature of such heatedatmosphere or oven is such that a temperature gradient is providedextending from the surface of the article 82 to its interior, shrinkingwill progressively take place from the outer surface inwardly of. thearticle 82 to produce an article 86 such as shown in FIG. 11. It will beunderstood that a cross section of the article 86 taken at right anglesto the vertical axis of the article in FIG. 11, will have generally thesame outline as that shown in FIG. 10 but will have a smaller lateraldimension and a greater longitudinal dimension and that this lateraldimension will decrease from the median plane of the articleprogressively toward ends of the article.

Another cut out article 88 is shown in FIG. 12 and this article may besimilar to the article 82 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 except that the lobes90 are relatively thin as compared to the lobes of the article 82. Whenthis article is subjected to heating as above described by beingsuspended from a wire 84in a heated atmosphere, the lobes 90 shrink in amanner tending to produce an article 92 having lobes 94 with uniformsinuous shapes such as illustrated in FIG. 13, particularly if theoriginal article has a plurality of groups of layers of slightlydifferent shrinking characteristics. This will usually be the case ifthe layers are of different colors or have been made at different times,even though made on the same apparatus and by the same process.

FIGS. 14 and illustrate an article 95 made in a manner similar to thearticle 82 of FIGS. 9 and 10 except that the article has a simplerectangular configuration. Upon suspension in a heated atmosphere, forexample, by the wire 84, the article assumes the curved shape shown bythe article 96 of FIG. 16. The sides of such article have compoundcurvature and if the heat is applied from one side only, for example, byradiation from a heated plate at one side of the article, the change ofform of the article is asymmetrical as illustrated by the article 98shown in FIGS. 17 and 18.

Instead of suspending the articles shown in FIGS. 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15in an oven or the like, similar heating operations may be carried on byinverting the articles shown in such figures and attaching their wiresto a frame which is then submerged in heated liquid such as the heatedliquid of FIG. 5. By correctly adjusting the temperatures of liquid,articles very similar to those shown in FIGS. 11, 13 and 16 can beproduced. It will, of course, be understood that all of the heatingoperations thus far described will be discontinued when the articleshave obtained the desired shape and this is also true of heatingoperations described below. The articles thus far described haveutility, for example, earrings, pendants, necklaces and the like.

An elongated article 100 cut from a stack of the films of thermoplasticmaterial in which the layers have been fused together throughout theirsurface areas is shown in FIGS. 19 i and 20. The article may, forexample, be of the rectangular form shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, with thelayers running longitudinally of the article. An article of this typemay be caused to assume the shape of an open ring by placing the sameupon the upper surface of a heated mandrel 102 with the layers of filmextending generally parallel, for example, be a mandrel of the tubularform shown :in FIG. 19. The mandrel may have electric heating elements104 positioned therein. The mandrel may have any desired shape, forexample, the shape shown in FIGS. 19 and 21, is suitable for a bracelet.The shrinking of the layers of material adjacent the mandrel will causethe article 100 to curve around the mandrel into an article 106 havingthe shape shown in FIG. 21.

Another way of making a bracelet 108, similar to the bracelet 106 ofFIG. 21, is illustrated in FIGS. 22 and 23. In FIG. 22, a plurality oflayers 108 of the thermoplastic film are shown as being wound upon amandrel 110. The layers 108 are built up to the desired thickness andmay include groups of layers of various colors. The layers upon themandrel may then be heated by heating the entire assembly in an oven.After the heating operation the layers of material may be cut into aseries of open rings 114 by a heated cutting element, for example, aheated knife or die, and the resulting articles removed from themandrel.

The making of another type of ring, bracelet, is illustrated in FIGS. 24to 26, inclusive. A ring of material 118 is cut from a pile of layerssuch as the pile of layers 50 of FIG. 1 by any suitable cutting element,for example, a heated die. The cross section of the resulting cut outring is shown in FIG. 25 and the resulting article 118 after beingheated, for example, by placing it upon a tubular mandrel and thenheating in an oven or by immersion in a heated liquid, is shown in FIG.26.

FIG. 27 shows an end of an elongated bundle 120 of layers in the form ofa roll containing a plurality of smaller bundles or rolls. The bundle120 is made by first forming one or more smaller bundles of the film ofthermoplastic material. Thus a smaller bundle 122 in the form of anelongated cylindrical roll shown in FIG. 27 was first prepared. Thisbundle was then wrapped with a plurality of layers 1241 of a color whichcontrasted with the colors of the roll 122. Another smaller bundle 126made up of a flat roll of film of :still another color was positioned toextend approximately halfway around the layers 124 as also illustratedin FIG. 27. This assembly was them employed as a core about which aplurality of layers 128 of film was then wrapped and in a specificexample these layers had the same color as the layer 124. The smallerbundles 130 in the form of flattened rolls were then superimposed uponthe wrapped layers 128 on the side of the assembly thus far preparedopposite the flat roll 126. These bundles were made by stacking groupsof layers of film, for example, three, in which each group of layers hada contrasting color and wrapping the stack into a roll. Another wrappingof layers 132 of the film of the same color as layers 124 was thenapplied. Another flattened roll 134 was then placed on the Wrappedlayers 132 on the same side of the assembly as the bundles 130. Anotherrelatively thick wrapping 136 of layers of film of a contrasting colorwas then applied .and then two further smaller flattened rolls 138 ofanother color were applied to the sides of the assembly followed byanother wrapping 140 of a plurality of layers of the same color aslayers 136 and still another wrapping 141 of a different color.

The end view of the bundle of FIG. 27 is an idealized view as in actualpractice some of the layers will project from the end of the bundlefarther than others and will be bent inwardly to obscure some of thelayers, but such idealized end view is useful in describing theprocedure by which the large elongated bundle was assembled.

The completed bundle assembled as described above was then heated in anoven at a relatively low heat for sufficient time to cause all of thevarious layers in the assembly to have their contacting surfaces fusedtogether into a composite member in the form of the roll or bundle 122of FIG. 28. The

heating caused the layers to contract somewhat in length and width andcorrespondingly expand in thickness to fill all voids which might beleft in the interior of the bundle and cause the various layers to mergeinto a solid body 141 of the elongated cylindrical shape shown in FIG.28.

As indicated in FIG. 28, the elongated solid body 141 was cut into aplurality of wafers 142. Each wafer had essentially the appearance ofthe end of the bundle 120 shown in FIG. 27, somewhat reduced in size. Awafer 142 was then placed on the heated but relatively cool floor of anoven and was subjected to radiant heat directed against the uppersurface thereof. The heat caused the outer wrapped layers to shrink soas to decrease the diameter of the wafer and the heat applied to theupper edges of the cut layers caused such edges to increase in thicknessand also made the body of the wafer sufficiently plastic that thecentral portion of the wafer extruded in a direction generallyperpendicular to the faces of the wafer to form an article 144 of theshape shown in FIGS. 29, 30 and 31. In the case ofa wafer cut from abundle which has been heated as above described, this extrusion isusually upwardly away from the floor of the oven and toward the sourceof radiant heat but particularly with wafers cut from bundles which havenot been heated and which contain voids as described below, theextrusion may be in the opposite direction.

The corresponding portions of the end of the bundle 120 shown in FIG. 27and the resulting formed article 144 are given the same number in FIGS.29, 30 and 31 as they are in FIG. 27, except that the reference numeralsin FIGS. 29, 30 and 31 are followed by a small a.

As indicated above, the various bundles and wrappings of FIG. 27 were,in general, made of different colors and in the case of the portion 122,the roll was made of alternate layers of film of different colors sothat the result was closely spiraled lines of different color in thefinal product 144. Also the portions 130 were made up of concentricrolls of three different colored film materials so as to give the effectof protruding eyes. The result was a hollow article of considerablemechanical strength having the appearance of a grotesque head. Byvarying the nature and number of the bundles of film, a wide variety ofunusual articles can be produced.

As another example, FIG. 32 shows the end of a roll 145 similar to thatdescribed with reference to FIG. 27. This bundle was made by firstforming a stack of layers made of three groups of layers of the filmmaterial in which the lower and upper groups were of different colorsand were separated by another thinner group of a third color. This stackof material was folded back and forth upon itself to form a folded core146 which was then tightly wrapped by two separate wrappings 148 and 150of different colors, the inner one of which was the same color as thatof one of the outer folded groups of layers of the core 146. Theresulting bundle was then heated as described above with reference toFIG. 27 to cause the contacting surfaces of the various layers to fuseto each other and then was cut into wafers as also described above, Oneof such wafers was then heated in the same manner as the wafer 142 asdescribed above and the result was to form the article 152 shown inFIGS. 33, 34 and 35. This was a hollow article having the generalappearance of a seashell.

Again the reference numerals for the various wrappings and bundles shownin FIGS. 32 have been applied to the article 152 of FIGS. 33, 34 and 35with an a attached to indicate the corresponding portions. As statedabove, the inner wrapping 148 was of the same color as one of the groupsof layers of film of the folded bundle 146 so that these materialsmerged in the final heating so as to be indistinguishable in the finalarticle.

FIG. 36 illustrates another type of bundle or roll 154 havinglongitudinally extending lengths of stretch oriented heat shrinkablethermoplastic rods therein. This roll or bundle is made by firstwrapping layers 156 about a central rod 158, which layers in a specificexample were of the same color as the rod. Alternating layers ofcontrasting colors were then wrapped about the layers 156 to provide aspiral of layers 160. Another wrapping of layers 162 of the same coloras the rod 158 was then applied followed by another spiral of layers 164of the same colors as the layers 160.

A plurality of rods 166 of the same material and color as the rod 158but of smaller diameter were then arranged around the layers 164 and theresulting assembly wrapped with further layers 168 of a somewhatdifferent color than that of the rods 166. Two rods 170 of star-shapedcross section and of a darker contrasting color were then positioned asshown in FIG. 36 and the wrapping of the layers 168 continued to leavevoids 172 in the bundle or roll. The rods 170 were not stretch orientedto any substantial extent.

Another circular rod 174 of the stretch oriented heat shrinkablethermoplastic material of substantially the same color as the layers wasthen positioned below and between the rods 170 and the wrapping of thelayer 168 continued to leave the voids 172 and 176. A flat bundle oflayers 178 of another darker contrasting color was then added below therod 174 and the wrapping of the layers 168 continued. A final wrappingof layers 182 of another darker contrasting color was then added.

The bundle 154 without any preliminary heating was then cut into aplurality of wafers by a plurality of spaced parallel portions of anelectrically heated resistance wire 184 held in an insulating frame 186as indicated diagrammatically in FIGS. 39 and 40. The hot wires fusedand sealed together the adjacent edges of the cut layers and the edgesof the layers and rods to form an article of considerable mechanicalstrength.

When these wafers were heated by radiant heat applied to their uppersurfaces, they each deformed into a hollow article 186 of the type shownin FIGS. 37 and 38. The reference numerals employed in FIG. 36 with theletter a added thereto have been applied to parts of FIGS. 37 and 38which correspond to the various elements of FIG. 36. In each case theshort sections of the rods 158, 166 and 174 were extruded outwardly fromthe surface of the wall of the final article 188, since these rodsexpanded radially while the layers surrounding them contracted. Thesections of the rods 170 were of sufficiently small diameter relative totheir length and were made of a thermoplastic material which did notexpand or otherwise change their shape appreciably upon heating of thewafer so that they remained in position within the wall. The voids 176and 178 surrounding the portions of the rod 174 in the wafer closed asdid the small voids which were adjacent the portions of the rods 166.The voids 172 surrounding the portions of the rods 170 did not, however,quite close but remained in the approximate shape of a human eye. Therods 170 each provided a star-shaped pupil for one of the eyes.

FIGS. 41 to 45 illustrate the effects of cutting a plurality of flatsuperimposed layers of the stretch oriented heat shrinkable film intodifferent shapes and applying heat in a different manner. Thus thearticle of blank 190 of FIG. 41 may have the cross section 190 shown inFIG. 42 and may be cut into the shape of a flower, for example, by a hotwire. Upon being heated by radiant heat directed downwardly and radiallyinwardly toward the blank or article 190 of FIGS. 41 and 42substantially uniformly around the blank, a resulting article 190ahaving the cross section of FIG. 44 and the appearance in plan shown inFIG. 44 was produced.

A blank similar to that shown in FIGS. 41 and 42 but cut with somewhatdifferent shaped petal portions and heated by radiant heat directeddownwardly toward the top of the blank resulted in an article of thetype shown in FIG. 45 having the vertical cross section shown in FIG.46.

The temperatures at which shrinkage occurs extends over a wide rangefrom low temperatures at which the material just begins to creep to atemperature at which the thermoplastic material becomes of such lowviscosity that it no longer transmits stresses. At low temperatures,expansion tends to be more uniform throughout the article since the rateof shrinkage is low compared to the rate of heat propogation through thearticle from the outside surface. At sufficiently low temperatures thematerial of the layers maintains a nearly uniform temperature throughoutand the shrinkage and expansion effects are substantially uniformthroughout. Under these conditions an article made of layers of thematerial will expand uniformly in a direction normal to the layers andshrink uniformly in a direction parallel to the layers.

At higher temperatures there will be a large difference in the shrinkageof the outside of the article compared to the inside. Shrinkage willtake place very rapidly and unusual effects obtained. The timing of theheating to obtain the desired shape is quite critical at hightemperatures so, in general, a lower temperature which will give thedesired effect will be employed in order to be able to obtain betterproduction control.

The choice of time and temperature is also somewhat dependent upon thedesired physical properties of the finished article. Plastic materialswhich have been stretch oriented are norm ally much stronger and lessbrittle than those which have not been so treated. Thus if the heatingcycle is long enough to produce complete shrinkage, the material changesfrom a tough to a brittle condition. If is therefor normally desirableto stop the heating before a completely shrunk or non oriented materialhas been produced. Also heating tends to change the colors of dyes andsome pigments and avoidance of over heating is desirable to prevent thisfrom happening.

The most desirable film thus found is a foamed polystyrene sheet havinga density of 14 to 18 pounds per cubic foot which has been stretchedsubstantially equally along two axes. With this material suitabletemperatures for shrinking of the material range from approximately 160to 385 F. Desirable effects, however, can be achieved at oventemperatures or temperatures of other heat sources much higher thanthis, since it is the actual temperature of the material of the articlebeing heated which is of importance. At the higher temperatures there isconsiderable risk of discoloration and embrittlement and also a tendencyfor the surface to melt before the surface layer has had sufficient timeto exert any appreciable influence upon the shape of the article.

The rods of stretch oriented heat shrinkable material may also be offoamed polystyrene. A suitable way to form the rods is to extrude theheated material through an orifice of suitable size and pull or applytension to the rods while they are in a semiplastic condition.

Various ways of supplying the heat for expanding the stretch orientedthermoplastic material have been employed. The article to be heated canbe placed in an oven and contacted by hot air or by a vapor such assteam or a vapor of higher boiling liquid which does not react with theparticular material being heated. The glycols and glycolethers, forexample, are suitable liquids for heating the polystyrene mentionedabove. Also heating of the articles can be achieved by immersing orfloating them in a high boiling point liquid such as ethylene glycol orproplylene glycol or glycerin, although glycerin tends to solubilizesome of the organic dyes normally used in making colored films. Radiantheat with the article suspended in the open or resting on a surface canalso be employed.

Heating has also been accomplished by placing articles upon a hot plate.Any time a hot surface such as a hot plate or a hot mandrel is employed,it is, however, desirable to use a release film such as Teflon orsilicone rubber on the heated surface.

By employing temperatures within the general limits above discussed, itis possible to take a series of identical blanks or composite articles,made as above described of layers of stretch oriented heat shrinkablethermoplastic films, and produce a variety of shapes by varying theheating steps employed, for example, by varying the temperatures towhich the part is subjected or the time to which the article issubjected to heat, or both, or by varying the manner in which the heatis imparted to the article.

Although the preferred material for the heat shrinkable film is foamedpolystyrene made into a thin film and then stretched substantiallyuniformly along two axes at right angles to each other to a much thinnerfilm and the preferred material for the heat shrinkable rods is extrudedand stretched foamed polystyrene, it is the physical properties of thematerial rather than its chemical composition which is of importance andanyother thermoplastic material which is similarly stretched or orientedduring manufacture and which at least partly returns to its originalshape when heated can be employed to produce articles of the type abovedescribed. The time and temperatures required for the different changesin shape will vary with the physical characteristics of the particularplastic employed. It is easy to establish the temperature at whichshrinking in one direction and expansion in another begins and also thetemperature at which the thermoplastic material becomes too fluid toexert a force on other portions of the article. Temperatures betweenthese extremes can be employed and varied to produce a desired resultand as pointed out above, the time and temperature of heating shouldnot, in general, be sufficient to completely relieve the stresses in theoriented material since this tends to produce a brittle final article.

While the cutting described above is usually done by employing heatedcutting elements, it is possible to cut stacks or bundles of layers oforiented thermoplastic material with saws, particularly if such stacksor bundles have been heat treated to fuse the various layers together.Fine-toothed wood-working saws are in general suitable, particularly ifa spray or a stream of water is employed at the cutting position toprevent frictional heat from softening or melting the material andcausing resultant gumming of the same.

Any of the articles described above, after they have been brought totheir desired form, can be stabilized against deformation due to heatingby exposing them to radiation such as gamma rays, X-rays or highvelocity electrons. This type of treatment causes cross linking of thechain-like polymer molecules so as to inhibit shrinkage of thepolymerized material. It is also possible to produce novel effects bycausing dif ferential deformation of selected portions of an articlewhen heat is applied to the article by exposing portions of the articleto radiation through a mask or otherwise prior to the application of theheat.

The articles described above are useful for jewelry or other ornaments.Articles having exposed surfaces which were originally surfaces of thefilm will in general have a high polish on such surfaces. Other surfacescan be given a high polish by fine grained abrasive material, such asfine sandpaper or emery paper or cloth, particularly if water isemployed to keep the abrasive material wet.

We claim:

1. The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises:

arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretch oriented heatshrinkable thermoplastic film material with faces of at least portionsof adjacent layers in contact with each other to form a compositemember; cutting in a direction extending through the layers of saidcomposite member and through said portions to cut a discrete elementfrom said composite member and expose cut edges of said layers at thesurface of said element; and

applying heat to said material during said process to fuse together atleast the edges of parts of said portions of said layers;

said process including arranging saidl layers in a flat pile ofsuperimposed layers in which the element thus produced has a dimensionparallel to said layers which greatly exceeds the dimension of saidelement perpendicular to said layers to provide opposite exposed majorsurfaces extending parallel to said layers; and

said process also including applying; heat differentially to one of saidmajor surfaces relative to the other to cause shrinking of the layersadjacent said one major surface in a direction parallel to the heatedlayers.

2. The process defined in claim 1 in which said heat is applied byplacing said element on the surface of a heated liquid in which saidelement floats and which is inert with respect to said material in orderto cause dishing of said element.

3. The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises:

arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretch oriented heatshrinkable thermoplastic film material with the faces of at leastportions of adjacent layers in contact with each other to form acomposite member; cutting in a direction extending through the layers ofsaid composite member and through said portions to cut a discreteelement from said composite member and expose cut edges of said layersat the surface of said element; and

applying heat to said material during said process to fuse together atleast the edges of parts of said portions of said layers;

said process including heating said composite member substantiallythroughout while said composite member is prevented from expanding in adirection perpendicular to said layers to cause at least partial fusionand adherence of the contacting surfaces of adjacent layers of saidmaterial without substantial contraction of said composite member indirections parallel to said layers.

4. The process defined in claim 3 which includes:

suspending said element cut from said composite member having at leastpartial fusion and adherence of said layers in a heating chamber andapplying heat to the exposed surfaces thereof so as to cause contractionof sad layers in directions parallel to said layers and expansion in adirection perpendicular to said layers.

5. The process defined in claim 4 in which the dimension of said elementin a direction perpendicular to said layers approaches that of thegreatest dimension thereof parallel to said layers and the heat appliedto said element causes greater contraction of the layers adjacent thesurfaces of said element extending parallel to said layers than thelayers midway between said surfaces.

6. The process defined in claim 4 in which the dimension of said elementin a direction perpendicular to said layers greatly exceeds thedimension parallel to said layers and heat is applied differentially toa surface of said element having exposed edges of said layers withrespect to an opposite surface to cause said element to curl into anopen ringlike product.

7. The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises:

arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretch oriented heatshrinkable thermoplastic film material with the faces of at leastportions of adjacent layers in contact with each other to form acomposite member; cutting in a direction extending through the layers ofsaid composite member and through said portions to cut a discreteelement from said composite member and expose cut edges of said layersat the surface of said element; and

applying heat to said material during said process to fuse together atleast the edges of parts of said portions of said layers;

said process including wrapping a plurality of layers of said materialupon a mandrel and applying heat to fuse together the contactingsurfaces of adjacent layers of said material and form said compositemember; and

cutting said composite member into open ringlike discrete elements andremoving said ringlike elements from said mandrel.

8. The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises:

arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretch oriented heatshrinkable thermoplastic film material with the faces of at leastportions of adjacent layers in contact with each other to form acomposite member;

cutting in a direction extending through the layers of said compositemember and through said portions to cut a discrete element from saidcomposite member and expose cut edges of said layers at the surface ofsaid element; and

applying heat to said material during said process to fuse together atleast the edges of parts of said portions of said la ers; said processincluding arranging layers of said material in a generally cylindricalelongated bundle so as to extend axially of said bundle with at leastthe outer layers wrapped circumferentially around said bundle to form acomposite member; said process also including heating said bundle tocause the layers thereof to adhere together to form said compositemember having a shape similar to that of said bundle; and

cutting said composite member in a direction generally laterally of thelongitudinal axis of said composite member to produce a disclikediscrete element with the cut edges of layers of said material exposedon the faces of said disclike element.

9. The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises:

arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretch oriented heatshrinkable thermoplastic film material with the faces of at leastportions of adjacent layers in contact with each other to form acomposite member; cutting in a direction extending through the layers ofsaid composite member and through said portions to cut a discreteelement from said composite member and expose cut edges of sad layers atthe surface of said element; and

applying heat to said material during said process to fuse together atleast the edges of parts of said portions of said layers;

said process including arranging layers of said material in a generallycylindrical elongated bundle so as to extend axially of said bundle withlayers wrapped circumferentially around said bundle to form a compositemember;

said process also including cutting said composite member in a directiongenerally laterally of the longitudinal axis of said composite member toproduce a disclike discrete element with the cut edges of layers of saidmaterial exposed on the faces of said disclike element.

10. The process defined in claim 9 which includes applying heat to saiddisclike element to cause said element to deform into a hollow articleas a result of differential contraction of said layers in the directionof such layers and expansion perpendicularly of said layers.

11. The process defined in claim 10 in which a plurality of individualelongated smaller bundles of said plastic sheet material are placed inthe central portion of the first mentioned bundle so as to extendlongitudinally thereof.

12. The process of claim 10 in which at least one elongated smallerbundle is placed in the interior of the first mentioned bundle and has aplurality of layers of said plastic sheet material which aresuperimposed and then folded into a plurality of loops in contact witheach other.

13. The process of claim 10 in which at least one rod of stretchoriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic material is placed in said bundleso as to extend longitudinally of said bundle.

14. The process of claim 10 in which a plurality of rods of stretchoriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic material are placed in saidbundle so as to extend longitudinally of said bundle and are positionedto form a ring of said rods around a portion of the interior of saidbundle.

2. The process defined in claim 1 in which said heat is applied byplacing said element on the surface of a heated liquid in which saidelement floats and which is inert with respect to said material in orderto cause dishing of said element.
 3. The process of making an article ofthermoplastic film material which comprises: arranging a number oflayers in excess of two of stretch oriented heat shrinkabletHermoplastic film material with the faces of at least portions ofadjacent layers in contact with each other to form a composite member;cutting in a direction extending through the layers of said compositemember and through said portions to cut a discrete element from saidcomposite member and expose cut edges of said layers at the surface ofsaid element; and applying heat to said material during said process tofuse together at least the edges of parts of said portions of saidlayers; said process including heating said composite membersubstantially throughout while said composite member is prevented fromexpanding in a direction perpendicular to said layers to cause at leastpartial fusion and adherence of the contacting surfaces of adjacentlayers of said material without substantial contraction of saidcomposite member in directions parallel to said layers.
 4. The processdefined in claim 3 which includes: suspending said element cut from saidcomposite member having at least partial fusion and adherence of saidlayers in a heating chamber and applying heat to the exposed surfacesthereof so as to cause contraction of sad layers in directions parallelto said layers and expansion in a direction perpendicular to saidlayers.
 5. The process defined in claim 4 in which the dimension of saidelement in a direction perpendicular to said layers approaches that ofthe greatest dimension thereof parallel to said layers and the heatapplied to said element causes greater contraction of the layersadjacent the surfaces of said element extending parallel to said layersthan the layers midway between said surfaces.
 6. The process defined inclaim 4 in which the dimension of said element in a directionperpendicular to said layers greatly exceeds the dimension parallel tosaid layers and heat is applied differentially to a surface of saidelement having exposed edges of said layers with respect to an oppositesurface to cause said element to curl into an open ringlike product. 7.The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises: arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretchoriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic film material with the faces ofat least portions of adjacent layers in contact with each other to forma composite member; cutting in a direction extending through the layersof said composite member and through said portions to cut a discreteelement from said composite member and expose cut edges of said layersat the surface of said element; and applying heat to said materialduring said process to fuse together at least the edges of parts of saidportions of said layers; said process including wrapping a plurality oflayers of said material upon a mandrel and applying heat to fusetogether the contacting surfaces of adjacent layers of said material andform said composite member; and cutting said composite member into openringlike discrete elements and removing said ringlike elements from saidmandrel.
 8. The process of making an article of thermoplastic filmmaterial which comprises: arranging a number of layers in excess of twoof stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic film material with thefaces of at least portions of adjacent layers in contact with each otherto form a composite member; cutting in a direction extending through thelayers of said composite member and through said portions to cut adiscrete element from said composite member and expose cut edges of saidlayers at the surface of said element; and applying heat to saidmaterial during said process to fuse together at least the edges ofparts of said portions of said layers; said process including arranginglayers of said material in a generally cylindrical elongated bundle soas to extend axially of said bundle with at least the outer layerswrapped circumferentially around said bundle to form a composite member;said process also including heating said bundle to cAuse the layersthereof to adhere together to form said composite member having a shapesimilar to that of said bundle; and cutting said composite member in adirection generally laterally of the longitudinal axis of said compositemember to produce a disclike discrete element with the cut edges oflayers of said material exposed on the faces of said disclike element.9. The process of making an article of thermoplastic film material whichcomprises: arranging a number of layers in excess of two of stretchoriented heat shrinkable thermoplastic film material with the faces ofat least portions of adjacent layers in contact with each other to forma composite member; cutting in a direction extending through the layersof said composite member and through said portions to cut a discreteelement from said composite member and expose cut edges of sad layers atthe surface of said element; and applying heat to said material duringsaid process to fuse together at least the edges of parts of saidportions of said layers; said process including arranging layers of saidmaterial in a generally cylindrical elongated bundle so as to extendaxially of said bundle with layers wrapped circumferentially around saidbundle to form a composite member; said process also including cuttingsaid composite member in a direction generally laterally of thelongitudinal axis of said composite member to produce a disclikediscrete element with the cut edges of layers of said material exposedon the faces of said disclike element.
 10. The process defined in claim9 which includes applying heat to said disclike element to cause saidelement to deform into a hollow article as a result of differentialcontraction of said layers in the direction of such layers and expansionperpendicularly of said layers.
 11. The process defined in claim 10 inwhich a plurality of individual elongated smaller bundles of saidplastic sheet material are placed in the central portion of the firstmentioned bundle so as to extend longitudinally thereof.
 12. The processof claim 10 in which at least one elongated smaller bundle is placed inthe interior of the first mentioned bundle and has a plurality of layersof said plastic sheet material which are superimposed and then foldedinto a plurality of loops in contact with each other.
 13. The process ofclaim 10 in which at least one rod of stretch oriented heat shrinkablethermoplastic material is placed in said bundle so as to extendlongitudinally of said bundle.
 14. The process of claim 10 in which aplurality of rods of stretch oriented heat shrinkable thermoplasticmaterial are placed in said bundle so as to extend longitudinally ofsaid bundle and are positioned to form a ring of said rods around aportion of the interior of said bundle.